It Shouldn't Be Possible For Music to Be This Good

I've mentioned several times in the past that my favorite band is a woefully underappreciated alternative metal group called Sevendust. I realize that I have a very limited audience, and that most of that audience probably isn't into this style of music anyway, but their new album, Cold Day Memory, is so ridiculously awesome that I feel it would be wrong not to at least give it a plug here.

Seriously, these guys never fail to impress me. Year after year, and album after album, it's as if they take everything I like in music and combine it into something incredibly familiar, yet still new and surprising. If Sevendust didn't exist, and I was asked to describe my idea of the perfect band, I don't think my description would be too far from what they already are.

Regular readers know that I don't have a generally sunny disposition, but when I listened to CDM for the first time, I literally smiled from beginning to end. No exaggeration. The first three songs alone ("Splinter," "Forever," and "Unraveling") are better than what some bands put out in their entire careers. At one point during the bridge of "Unraveling," I actually got chills. This despite the fact that it's the first single and I had heard it a couple of times already.

If you care to give it a listen, here you go (the high point starts around 2:37):

The DVD that comes with the album is solid as well, if only for the part where the bassist decides that they can't be clearly classified as rock, nu-metal, or anything, but that they're "abso-fuckin'-lutely" a country band (his Southern accent makes this actually seem truthful for a second). Good stuff.

Incidentally, I still think I'll end up liking this one slightly less than their third album, Animosity. That's how good these guys are; an album that gave me the experiences described above isn't even their best work.

Again, I know that my limited readership probably isn't interested in this (although if I've changed your mind, welcome to the 7D family), but hopefully someone will come here from Google or something and discover what more people should know about.

I think I'll stop now before this gets too obsessive. Also, I realized while writing this post that I use way too many adverbs.

UPDATE

Another CDM highlight is "Better Place:"

The riff at 0:29...unfuckingreal.